Chef Cara Davis found inspiration in Mexico, but always intended to build her future in the Philippines. Hálong is where that long-held vision finally began to manifest.
Mondays are usually quiet at Hálong. The restaurant closes for the day, giving the team time to rest before another week of service. This morning, however, the jangling of keys breaks the silence as Chef Cara Davis unlocks the front door for our shoot. A small pomeranian darts past her into the dining room.
“That’s Roca,” Cara introduces. “She came with me from Mexico.”
The five-year-old has become something of Hálong’s unofficial mascot, appearing regularly in the restaurant’s photoshoots and social media posts. In fact, Cara admits, she originally wanted to name the restaurant after her.
“But my mom said, ‘You can’t name a restaurant after a dog,’” the chef explains. “She’s my business partner, and she’s the one who suggested Hálong. She’s Ilongga, and it [halong] means something like ingat in Tagalog, or ‘to care.’”
Roca wasn’t the only thing Cara brought home from Mexico. Opened in late 2024, Hálong draws from the bold flavors and vibrant street food cultureCultureshared traditions, beliefs, values, customs, arts, and social practices that define the identity and way of life of a community, society, or nation.Go to Culture Glossary she came to love there, shaped by years spent honing her craft in some of the world’s most celebrated kitchens. Less than two years later, the restaurant was recognized with a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Michelin Guide Philippines.
“When I was younger, I already knew I was going to travel around the world, and then, after I was done with that, I was going to live in the Philippines,” she says. “It has always been my plan.”
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The Early Years Of Chef Cara Davis Of Hálong
Born in Canada to a Filipino mother and Canadian father, Cara spent most of her childhood growing up in Toronto. She returned to the Philippines for a brief period before heading back to her birthplace at the age of six; by the time she hit 14, she decided she wanted to become a chef.
Her mother encouraged her passion, and not long after, she enrolled them both in a college-level culinary program. Because Cara was still underage, the school allowed her to enroll on the condition that her mother attend classes alongside her. By day, Cara balanced high school like any other teenager. In the evenings, the mother-daughter pair headed to cooking school together, where she often ended up preparing two of every dish–one for herself and another for her mom. Cara also began working restaurant shifts, sometimes staying until close to midnight. Her mother would wait outside until she finished before driving her home.
After graduating high school, Cara enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. An internship at Grant Achatz’s Alinea in Chicago introduced her to fellow young chef José Luis Hinostroza, while her first role after graduation took her to Eleven Madison Park under Chef de Cuisine James Kent, whom she still considers one of her greatest mentors. More kitchens followed in Spain and London, each adding another layer to the young chef who once imagined seeing the world before later returning home.
Then, in 2017, a phone call came. Cara had been living in London for two years and was working as sous chef at Tom Sellers’ Restaurant Story when her former colleague José called from Mexico.
“When we worked together, we always said we were going to open a restaurant one day,” Cara shares. “He [José] was doing a pop-up with Noma in Mexico. He gave me a call and said, ‘This is the place, this is where we’re going to open our restaurant.’” The idea was so compelling she resigned from her current job and shortly after moved to Mexico.
A New Life In Mexico
She arrived in Tulum to join José as sous chef and head of recipe development as they took over ARCA, helping transform the restaurant into the openfire, ingredient-driven destination it’s known for today. It was a chance to build a concept while immersing herself in a country and a cuisine that would leave a lasting mark on her cooking.
After a couple of years with ARCA, Cara struck out on her own in Tulum, opening Lucky Bunny, a 10-seat dumpling restaurant where Asian flavors met the ingredients she came to know in Mexico (a shiitake mushroom dumpling, for instance, would be accompanied by habanero ponzu). With a limited rotating menu and a tiny kitchen, Cara made and folded every dumpling herself.
Lucky Bunny lasted only a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to close. As the world reopened, Cara reunited with José, this time to open Mestixa in the space next to her former dumpling shop. They served what they described as mestizaje cuisine, not simply a fusion of Asian and Mexican flavors, but food born from the meeting of cultures.
The move to Mexico was supposed to last two years. By the end, Cara stayed for seven.
Back To The Archipelago
Even while building a life in Mexico, Cara never stopped imagining the one she’d eventually return to. Her trips to the Philippines increasingly revolved around a farm in Cavite that her extended family had purchased. With each visit, the idea of returning to her mother’s homeland felt less distant, and before she knew it, Cara purchased the property neighboring her family’s.
“I kept visiting, and I thought it was so nice,” Cara says. “We bought the lot next door, and I thought, ‘I don’t know when, but one day, this is where I want to live.’”
The farm represents the kind of restaurant Cara always wanted to build. It would be influenced by the ingredients growing just outside its doors and the livestock raised on the land. After years across the Pacific, the timing felt right. She packed up once again, finally making her return to the Philippines. However, her plan of settling didn’t begin with jumping straight into the farm restaurant she envisioned. Instead, Cara opened Hálong in Legazpi Village, Makati.
Building Hálong In Makati
“[While building in Cavite], I knew I needed to have something so that people would get to know our food, something closer to the city,” the chef explains. “I thought it would be risky to open so far from the city right away. Why would people go there to eat if they don’t know me? I wanted something so that people could become familiar with us, so that when we open [in Cavite], there would be that intention of taking that long drive.”
Designed by Cara’s brother, San Francisco-based architect Matthew Davis, Hálong is grounded in Filipino craftsmanship and a welcoming atmosphere. Inside, floor-to-ceiling windows flood the dining room with natural light and provide a view of the park across the street. The furniture is distinctly Filipino from E. Murio, while an assortment of crockery by Zambales-based ceramic artist Mia Casal fill up an accent wall.
Cara admits that, early on, the menu of Hálong lacked focus. It pulled from different influences and experiences; certain dishes were Japanese, others Korean, and some Mexican. It wasn’t until friend and fellow chef Stephan Duhesme of Metiz offered a piece of advice that stayed with her: lean into the Mexican flavors and make them consistent and cohesive throughout the whole menu.
“Over the years, we really found our identity,” Cara says. “We focus on Mexican flavors with our own twists inspired by Asia.”
What’s On The Menu At Hálong?
Cara shares some of her favorite dishes on the menu with us.
The Aguachile Mixto is a raw seafood dish similar to a ceviche or kinilaw, but featuring a spicy liquid base. She often develops dishes by starting with the sauce first, playing around with flavors, then figuring out what that sauce would pair best with. Her Aguachile Mixto features a Mandarin sriracha and is best paired with Tapioca Chips. Other personal favorites include the tostadas: a Fish Tostada featuring smoked pampano, Guajillo chili, and a cashew salsa macha; and a Crab Tinga Tostada featuring chive aioli, Mandarin marmalade, chipotle mayo, and carrot escabeche.
She decides to cook one more dish for us, the crowd-pleaser and customer favorite: Cold Sesame Noodles. At present, it’s the only thing on the menu that isn’t Mexican. In fact, it was from her original menu, back when Hálong lacked its cohesive concept, and was taken off after they went through their identity development. Yet customers kept asking for it, so it was returned to the menu by popular demand.
Coming soon, at the time of writing, is a pork char siu dish that she’s developing. Cara is stricter in enforcing Mexican flavors when it comes to her newer menu items, even if they’re Asian in origin. It’ll feature morita chilis and pickled jalapeños, served with a tortilla instead of rice (“Unless they insist on rice,” the chef relents).
Finding Home In The Land’s Rhythms
During Cara’s time in Mexico, her beloved Pomeranian wasn’t the only animal in the house. There were guinea fowl, rabbits, and even a boa constrictor at one point. She laughs as she recalls the menagerie of pets that came and went over the years, and her thoughts, naturally, return to the farm.
While Hálong continues to grow—including plans to formalize its tasting menu—the long-term vision has never really changed. The farm in Cavite remains the destination. For now, the property supplies only a handful of vegetables and chilies for the restaurant; most of it remains a personal space, one where Cara can step away from the city. Like Hálong, it will also be designed by her brother. We ask if the place will adopt Hálong’s name as well. The chef isn’t sure yet, but she knows what it will be: a true farm-to-table restaurant where ingredients growing in the fields and livestock raised on the land shape the menu from the very beginning.
“I really just want to live there,” she says simply. It’s a dream that’s still a few years away, unnamed. But who knows? Maybe she’ll finally get to call the place “Roca.”
This article was originally published in our September 2026 issue.
Photography by Jom Ablay, assisted by Kimi Jan Escalante
Frequently Asked Questions
Chef Cara Davis is a Canadian-born chef with a Filipino mother and Canadian father who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and worked in celebrated kitchens including Alinea and Eleven Madison Park. After seven years in Mexico, she returned to the Philippines and opened Hálong in Legazpi Village, Makati.
Hálong focuses on Mexican flavors with Cara Davis’ own twists inspired by Asia. The menu includes dishes such as Aguachile Mixto, Fish Tostada, Crab Tinga Tostada, and the customer-favorite Cold Sesame Noodles.
Cara had always planned to eventually live in the Philippines, but her years in Mexico deeply influenced her cooking. Hálong became a way to introduce her food to people in the city before eventually realizing her long-term vision of a farm-to-table restaurant in Cavite.
Hálong was named at the suggestion of Cara’s mother, who is Ilongga. The word halong means something like ingat in Tagalog, or “to care,” reflecting the restaurant’s name and philosophy.
While Hálong continues to grow, Cara’s long-term vision is a true farm-to-table restaurant on her family’s property in Cavite. The menu will be shaped by ingredients growing in the fields and livestock raised on the land, bringing her long-held dream of living and working on the farm closer to reality.
